Lord Speaker addresses The Amir of Kuwait

'Your Highness,Let me take this opportunity to thank you, on behalf of everyone assembled and particularly on behalf of the House of Lords, for your address. I am sure I speak for us all when I say that we greatly appreciate your presence here today.

The relationship between Kuwait and the UK has developed over the course of a shared history dating back more than 250 years, and your visit allows us to cultivate the relationship further. Now, perhaps more than ever, in the light of dramatic political and social upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa, we appreciate the value of the links between our two countries.

Kuwait’s elected National Assembly, established half a century ago, has a regional precedence that can help encourage democratic governance to flourish in the Arab world. We hope that, with the help of connections fostered between our countries and between our parliaments, Kuwait can continue to progress as a political pathfinder for the rest of the region.

For this reason and others, Your Highness, we attach particular importance to your visit this week. The exchanging of ideas, the sharing of experiences and the forging of personal bonds through such visits is vital to the development of close relations between our two countries, and long may it continue to be so.

Events of the last year have underlined the UK’s commitment to such relations. For example, as you celebrated the anniversaries of both your country’s independence and its later liberation from Iraq, visits were made by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and by our Prime Minister. In the same year a number of members of both Houses also made visits to your country, all of which can only serve to strengthen ties between us.

Your Highness, I hope your short time in our Parliament has been as valuable as I am sure the rest of your visit has been. It has certainly been an honour for us to have you here. And I can say with confidence that I look forward to ever closer and more fruitful relations between our countries and our parliaments for many years to come.'